The New Zealand dollar rose against the greenback today after consolidating during the session's trading.

The kiwi recently traded at US81.02c, up from US80.88c. It was at 72.80 on the Trade Weighted Index against major trading partners' currencies, up from 72.76.

HiFX currency trader Alex Hill said the kiwi consolidated today.

"The kiwi had a late rally last night and retested the low of yesterday. The kiwi-yen cross was the big winner overnight as the Japanese yen continued to weaken," Hill said.

The Japanese yen weakened as the leader of Japan's opposition party called for its central bank to take up a zero interest rate. The kiwi was at 65.75 Japanese yen at 5pm, up from 65.67 yen at 8am in the morning.

Overnight the markets would be looking to European data due out such as current account deficit and trade balance numbers.

On the crosses, the kiwi recently traded at 78.39 Australian cents, up marginally from A78.35c earlier. It was at 63.43 euro cents up from 63.30 euro cents in the morning. Against the British pound, the kiwi rose to 51.08 pence from 51 pence.

Hill expected the kiwi to trade between US80.50c and US81.50c overnight.